French farmers demonstrated near the border on Friday, blocking the main road connecting France and Spain as part of nationwide protests against low food prices and excessive bureaucracy.
Spain’s National Federation of Transport Associations announced that some Spanish trucks had been attacked at the border, and Spain’s agriculture minister condemned such actions.
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French farmers are protesting against the government demanding more support. The protests are currently affecting traffic attempting to cross from Spain to France on the AP-7 motorway, which runs along the Mediterranean coast from southern Spain to the border. Approximately 20,000 Spanish trucks enter France every day.
Catalonia’s transport agency, Transit, reported on X that it shared online video footage showing long lines of trucks with the northbound lanes of AP-7 blocked in the border municipality of La Jonquera.
The Spanish transport association federation Fenadizmer has released a video showing a Spanish truck driver being forced to empty 20,000 liters of wine from his tank, threatening French protesters. He was charged with criminal damage to property and destruction of property.
“Justice demands accompanied by unacceptable behavior lose all legitimacy,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Agriculture Minister Luis Planas told reporters on Thursday that the attack on the truck was “absolutely unacceptable.”
“We fully respect the right to demonstrate and to express opinions freely, but we always do so respectfully and peacefully, not through violent means or coercion.”
Andrés Góngora, from the COAG farmers’ association, said Spanish farmers understand why French farmers are protesting and share some of their demands.
“What we don’t understand is that they are focusing their protests on Spanish products, even though we, like them, are members of the European Union,” Góngora said. said. “Free movement of goods must be guaranteed.”